Story help please

[ferociouskittycat]

I've taken up a challenge to write a story for somebody, but it's based around college life and I have no idea how to start.

I need to know about college life for starters. What the classes are like, their duration... do students live on campus? What are the dorm rooms like?

Frats... do all students belong to one? Are they really sex and parties?

How do they choose who gets into a frat or are you able to just choose one and join?

Also, I saw a thread on Aussie slang and lingo.... anyone know of an American one?

I don't want to say he clobbered the bagezus out of the guy... if you guys say it differently.

Any help or links will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Weird Harold]

I need to know about college life for starters. What the classes are like, their duration... do students live on campus? What are the dorm rooms like?

For an idea on classes, do a search online for various colleges and the courses they have available -- the class schedules for each class are given in the synopsis of each class.

Classes vary depending on the subject -- some are lectures, some are seminars, and some are "labs." Some are one hour every day, others are four or six hours once a week. Most meet two or three times each week for two or three hours.

Many colleges require freshman to live in the dorms unless they're living "at home" -- i.e. are from the same city and living with relatives. Sophomores and up can usually live off-campus or in the dorms at their option.

The few dorm rooms I've seen are much like motel rooms -- communal facilties are generally only found in older dorms.

Dorms older than about 30 years old with communal facilities (showers and toilets) have smaller rooms than more modern ones; Think just enough room for two twin beds (often bunkable), two student desks and two dressers (chests of drawers) -- say ten feet by twelve feet or so, not counting closets.

Newer dorms, designed or refurbished for Co-ed occupancy, generally have bigger rooms with a bathroom shared between pairs of rooms. Upscale dorms have suites -- two small bedrooms, a "living room" and bath that may or may not be shared with an adjoining suite.

If you think "Motel" in place of "Dorm" you won't go far wrong. The quality of the college would determine whether "Motel 6" or "Hilton Suites" is the model you should use.

Frats... do all students belong to one? Are they really sex and parties?

No, only about 10-20% of students belng to fraternities or sororities. Sex and parties are a small part of what "Greek Societies" are supposed to be about. Parties are an inherent part of a "social organization" so Greek Societies naturally host more parties than unaffiliated students -- partly because they can afford to and partly because GreekSocieties have always been about what is now called "Networking."

A real life Frat Party is more likely to be a boring cocktail party or formal dance than the wild orgies depicted in the movies -- although wild orgies aren't completely out of the question.

How do they choose who gets into a frat or are you able to just choose one and join?

I don't know many details of the application and acceptance process, but Google knows all. I'm sure you can find the application procedures online with some idea of what is required for acceptance.

One thing I do know is that most Greek Societies have a "legacy" polcy where the offspring of alumni are virtually guaranteed admission.

"Pledge Week" is the acceptance process -- basically a week of total subsevience to test a pledge's suitability. It's intended to give the members a chance to get to know the pledges, but it's historically been a period of huniliating initiation rituals and hazing. Historical abuses have resulted in the harsher physical aspects of the initiations and hazing being outlawed, but the humiliation is still there.

Also, I saw a thread on Aussie slang and lingo.... anyone know of an American one?

I've seen several sites that purport to translate English to American and vice versa, but I don't recall any off-hand or a specific "Strine/American" lexicon. Try a google search for "how to speak american."

Americans don't have a monolithic slang, though. There are probably a dozen major dialects of "American" and a couple of hundred minor dialects. Pick a region for your main characters to come from and research slang for that region -- there's a probably a site with slang for each of the fifty states somewhere on the web that pokes fun at the way people talk; it will just take some time.

 

[ferociouskittycat]

OMG thank you!!!!!!

That's a fantastic help...

I could compare college to art school I went to here, but they sound so different. Also, we didn't have frats, so thank you for the info on them.

I'll do a google and see what else I can come up with.

 

[cloudy]

I hate to correct Weird Harold, but the pledge "week" is a misnomer. The length of time one usually remains a pledge is much longer than a week. The school I went to was on the quarter system, and pledges remained pledges for close to the whole term, going through two days of initiation close to the end of it.

Someone can choose which fraternity/sorority they would like to join, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they will be invited to join. There is Rush, at the beginning of the term, where all the Greek organizations hold something like an open house each night, and freshmen visit the ones they are interested in joining. After each night, the frat decides which freshmen they are interested in, and issue invitations for the next night, which are delivered in the morning, usually. This winnowing process goes on until at the end of the week, the hopefuls receive "bids", or invitations to join. There are many that are never invited to join a fraternity or sorority.

The parties I went to were pretty loud and most were drunk, and the formal each year was held somewhere like a lodge in a resort, but even that ended up like the others.

If you need anymore info, let me know. I'll be glad to help.

 

[ferociouskittycat]

Thanks cloudy.

I think it might help if I roughly outline the story here.

It's about a frat where they bully one guy about his mother. She's gorgeous.

Part of his 'hazing' so I've been told to call it (It's a jock frat), is that his mum fuck the frat leader, or con her into it.

Photos are taken... and spread through campus the next morning.

There's more to it, but I really want to focus on the college life for the story line to be believeable.

I've learned a lot, but still wonder if i'm out of my depths here.

I never give up on a challenge, so I'm going to do my best *sigh*

An idea of initiation tests would help heaps. What happens in the frats on a day to day basis...

As I described to one person, I feel like an alien writing about earth to a bunch of earthlings to read, so any help is really, really appreciated!!

Thanks for your input cloudy

 

[Weird Harold]

I hate to correct Weird Harold, but the pledge "week" is a misnomer. The length of time one usually remains a pledge is much longer than a week. The school I went to was on the quarter system, and pledges remained pledges for close to the whole term, going through two days of initiation close to the end of it.

Please do correct me, because I have no direct experience with either college or frats. I've encountered Frats primarily through reading -- both fiction and news stories -- and only have a lot of little pieces of information on the subject that obviously don't present a complete picture.

 

[Weird Harold]

Part of his 'hazing' so I've been told to call it (It's a jock frat), is that his mum fuck the frat leader, or con her into it.

Photos are taken... and spread through campus the next morning.

....

An idea of initiation tests would help heaps. What happens in the frats on a day to day basis...

Your basic premise is probably outside of the "normal" hazing and initiation rituals, so you'd probably be fairly safe in using news stories of hazings gone bad for you fictitious Frat's practices to extrapolate the initiation tests. News stories present the worst aspects of Hazing, and it sounds like "your" Frat is not going to be particulary worried about "appropriate behavior."

 

[pop_54]

Good luck with this one FK... as you so rightly say the ways of University life and what have you are so different around the world.

About the only thing that comes close to the American way over here is that the parties always turn loud.

 

[ferociouskittycat]

Thanks pop.

I have a start, so yay!!

At least I know where to ask if I need any more help.

Thanks everyone for the input. It was a great help.